Weymouth's Fogg Library will reopen Monday with a key artifact from its past

Hingham lawyer Brian Cook plans to permanently loan to the library an original copy of John S. Fogg's will, which specified that $50,000 from his estate go to build and stock a library bearing his name in South Weymouth.

WEYMOUTH -- When the Fogg Library reopens to the public later this month, the earliest piece of its history – dating to before the first granite block was laid – will be on display.

To mark the next era of the Columbian Square landmark, closed since 2005, Hingham lawyer Brian Cook plans to permanently loan to the library an original copy of John S. Fogg’s will, which specified that $50,000 from his estate go to build and stock a library bearing his name in South Weymouth.

Cook’s great-grandfather, Louis Cook, was the Fogg family’s lawyer and kept a copy of the handwritten will and passed it down. Louis Cook was also one of the speakers at a dedication ceremony for the Fogg Library in 1898.

“I kept thinking this is wonderful to have, but it probably belongs somewhere in Weymouth,” said Brian Cook, who grew up in Weymouth and now lives in Duxbury. “The feeling now is that it sort of belongs back in this building.”

Fogg was a local shoe manufacturer and banker. The library was built in 1897 and dedicated the following year. It remained a small, independent lending library until it came under the control of the Trustees of the Tufts Library in 1975.

The Fogg Library closed in 2005 because of extensive leaks and water damage. It will reopen to the public on Monday following a $1.8 million interior renovation. A $1.5 million exterior makeover was completed in 2010.

Library Director Robert MacLean said he’s excited to display the Fogg will in the library.

“That’s the germ of the idea. It’s what made it all happen,” he said. “It will be an amazing document to have on display for people to see where it all began.”

Cook said that in the late 19th century it would be typical for one copy of a will to be filed with the county probate court and for a lawyer or the family to keep a second. He said he received the will from his uncle in 1982 and kept it over the years in an envelope.

“I’m glad I held on to it, and I’m excited about passing it on to the Fogg Library,” he said.